Death's Demure
by awesome736
Summary: After being shot with a dart during a mission, Death the Kid suddenly contracts the once-extinct disease known as Death's Demure, despite being a Grim Reaper. The disease slowly begins to kill him, and his friends of the DWMA must set out to find the cure in seven days or less before the unthinkable happens. INCLUDES COMMENTS ON KID'S MOTHER.
1. Chapter 1

It was hot that day in Death City.

The laughing sun seemed to be laughing at the suffering of the Death City residents as they desperately drank down water, ate up ice cream, or ducked into a house with air conditioning. People had been sweating like they were rain clouds with pity in their hearts.

Children licked ice cream cones, teenagers dunked their heads into fountains and under hoses, and adults fanned themselves with books and their hands. It was really, really hot that day in Death City.

Then some generous passerby had mercy.

Some residents would be standing on the street corners, praying for rain, when all of a sudden, someone flew by at seemingly record-breaking speeds, sending a huge gust of wind at the bystanders. They all shouted praises and savored the coolness before being pulled back in heat's cruel claws once more.

But whoever it was flying by did not have wings, but only a skateboard. The skateboard, however, was flying. The wheels were folded under the board, and there was some sort of a rocket which kept the board a few inches from the ground and a couple more to keep it moving.

The rider of the board? Why, it was no more than Death the Kid, son of the Grim Reaper and ultimate king of symmetry. Well, at least in his eyes.

Kid's honey-colored eyes glared ahead of him, his black-and-white hair flapping in the wind as he rode, faster and faster. He wore his typical attire, a black suit with white stripes around the shoulders and down the chest, a pair of black pants, and his skull-shaped rings on either side of his hands.

Speaking of the boy's hands, there was a silver pistol in each of his palms. Kid held the triggers with his muscular pinkie fingers, ready to shoot when necessary. These two weapons, though they didn't seem like it, were actually human beings in their second form.

These two were the twin pistol sisters, Liz and Patty Thompson. They were Kid's weapon partners and his very close friends. Their weapon form, obviously, were pistols. Kid chose them as his partners because of the way they balanced out his body's symmetry while in battle.

But anyway, that's not important. What's important is what they were doing.

"_Hey, Kid_," Liz said, still in her pistol form. "_Could you slow down a little? This is a little dangerous_."

Kid growled, "I just want to get this whole thing with Father over with. I'm not exactly on the best terms with him at the moment."

Liz mentally noted that Kid did not specifically answer her question. She was tempted to delve deeper, but decided against it.

As stated before, Kid was the son of the Grim Reaper, Lord Death himself. This meant that Kid was more advanced than the other students and the Death Weapon Meister Academy, or the DWMA, the school of which he attended. This also meant that Kid was able to take on more treacherous missions for his father and not risk the lives of the other students.

Kid had gone to visit his father the night before, and in that time Death asked to see him in the morning. Kid had not released any details of the visit, but something must have happened. Kid had been in a foul mood ever since he returned to the house he shared with Liz and Patty.

It was really bringing down the mood between the trio. But the sisters tried to ignore it. Anyway, it was Sunday, and there were no other students inside the school where Kid's father spent most of his time.

Kid slowed down to a stop in front of the enormous school building. His hair was tousled from the wind, but he smoothed it over immediately after getting off of his board. The boy tossed his weapons into the air, and in a bright flash of pink they were in their regular, asymmetrical human forms. He slammed one end of the skateboard down with his foot, sending it flying into the air. He caught the thing, and it immediately dissolved into a translucent black beam, which flew into Kid's palm.

"Let's get this over with," Kid growled.

"Yay! Let's go inside!" Patty squealed in her perky little voice.

The trio entered into the school, Kid leading the way. Together, they passed through the endless halls and the doorways that made up the DWMA.

**0o0o0**

"Father, did you want to see us-"

Kid barely had enough time to pull back as the final guillotine on one of the archways to the Death Room suddenly came down, almost taking off the front of Kid's shoe. The boy leapt back in fright and crashed into his partners, knocking them down to the floor and tumbling down after them.

Across the room stood Lord Death himself, laughing through his mask.

Kid got up and finally lost it.

"_Father_!" He screeched. "Must you do that all the time?! It's not funny anymore and now the symmetry of the Death Room is off!"

"It's funny for me!" Death snickered, bringing a hand to the area where his mouth probably was behind the mask. "But anyway, sorry for frightening you!"

Kid grabbed the hands of his partners and hoisted them up onto their feet. Liz moaned and muttered, "Let's never do that again."

Patty just laughed. "It's so fun to be scared!"

Ignoring his partners, Kid turned to his father with a frightening glare plastered upon his deathly pale face. "So," Kid hissed, "did you want to see us or what?"

"Now, now, Kid!" Death tittered. "Relax for a second! Would you three like some tea? How've you been since last night, Kid?"

Kid's glare grew darker. "Father," he hissed through clenched teeth.

Death seemed a little taken aback by his son's behavior. But he merely shrugged it off. Liz and Patty, however, noticed Kid's behavior and they weren't pleased.

"Anyway," Lord Death went on, "I have a mission for you three, and if you're feeling up for it I'd like you all to leave immediately."

"What's the mission?" Kid asked.

"Ah, well, you see… In the middle of the scorching desert, there's a large village. It's very prosperous and full of life. However, many of the humans in the village have up and disappeared. I originally sent some men out to investigate, but they've never returned."

"So what should we do?"

"Find whatever is causing these disappearances and destroy it. I have a good feeling it's a Kisin soul."

Kid smiled a bit. "We'll take care of it."

"Good! I knew I could rely on you, Kiddo!" Death praised. "It's probably going to be a dangerous trip, so be sure to pack all the things you need!"

Kid rolled his eyes, made a blasé wave goodbye to his father, and began to leave the Death Room with his partners.

"Wait, Kid."

Kid turned towards his father with a bored look in his eyes. "Yes, Father?"

"Be careful, okay? Don't want you getting hurt or anything!"

Kid blinked, looked towards the floor, and finally turned and left with Liz and Patty at his side.

When Death was the only one left, the exasperated sigh of a troubled father was lost to the world.

**0o0o0**

Kid pressed a handkerchief to his mouth as a strong gust of wind blew sand and dust at his sensitive skin and lungs. He tightly shut his eyes and sped forward on his skateboard, his weapons in his pockets. A bag hung at his side, flipping about wildly in the wind. His hair whipped painfully across his face as he sped over the scorching desert.

Once the dust settled, Kid landed his skateboard on the crest of a sand dune and hopped off, shoving the board under his arm and pulling out his weapons. He tossed the guns into the air, letting them transform in a flash of pink back to normal humans, and proceeded to pull out a small map.

"Let's see," Kid murmured. "Father has circled an area for us, but according to his instructions there is no known specific location of this suspicious activity."

"Well," Liz asked, stretching out her sore limbs, "did he say in specific what kind of activity other than people disappearing?"

"Nothing other than strange wavelengths coming from that area. Anyway, I suggest we go to the village where all the disappearance have been occurring."

Liz nodded approval. The two were totally ignoring Patty, who was screaming curses at the sky because of the heat.

"In any case," Liz continued, "how far away is this village?"

"Do you really think I would have you two transform if we weren't close by?" Kid's voice had an edge to it. He pointed a slender finger towards the direction of which he was facing. Following his gaze Liz and Patty stepped over to Kid's area and set their sights on a fairly large, quiet little village below them. The houses in the village were somewhat modern and well-made, but only a few people walked through the streets. The buildings were made of dry wood and things the trio could not make out.

People carried wooden crates full of something that seemed like fruit or something. They were dressed in log, white robes that wrapped around their faces and around their limbs and body, only revealing their hands, eyes, and feet. There were only about four or five visible people, so either the rest were inside or the kidnappings have gotten especially bad.

Kid shoved the map into his bag and muttered, "Let's go."

"Right," Liz and Patty said in unison.

**0o0o0**

"Excuse me."

A person draped totally in white turned his black eyes at Kid's amber ones. Kid couldn't quite tell the gender of the person, so he merely avoided the subject.

"We've been sent by Shibusen, or the DWMA, to investigate the recent disappearances of this village's inhabitants."

"There's nothing you can do. It's too late."

Great, so it was a man who was going to cause trouble. Very well. However, Kid mentally noted that the symmetry on this guy's clothing was exquisite. But that wasn't important.

Kid kept his cool. "Sir," he went on, "if you tell us everything you know we might be able to save your neighbors."

"You can't save them," the stranger replied. "Everyone else here knows that they're dead."

Wait, what?

"Dead?" Kid said in disbelief. "They're dead? How do you know this?"

The stranger sighed, and realizing that telling these kids to buzz off would be futile, he explained, "Every night for the past month, someone's disappeared. There's always a witness. A shadowy figure who no one could make out appears, snatches up a child or the like, and either leaves or slits the victim's throat in front of the witness's eyes."

Kid blinked. _If there have always been witnesses, how has nobody made out who it is?_

"In any case," the man went on, "the rest of us are leaving today. You can still ask around, but be sure to be quick about it. I'm sorry I wasn't much help."

"You were a big help, thanks. Liz, Patty, we're leaving."

"Right!"

Just as the trio began to leave, the stranger called, "Hey, boy."

Kid stopped and turned. "Yes?"

"You're the Grim Reaper's son, right?"

"… Yes."

The guy laughed. "Why's he sending his only son out here?" he chuckled. "Be careful, kid. Many have lost their lives in this barren desert."

Kid's brow began to angle downwards. "I won't die," he snarled. "I'm a Grim Reaper."

The man waved Kid away, and disappeared down into the village streets.

**0o0o0**

The conversation with the final woman in the village ended with the woman saying, "I'm leaving, but if you wish you can stay here for the night. There's plenty of food and water in the pantry."

Liz wanted to leave; the interviews with the remaining village inhabitants had quite frightened her. Patty wanted to stay because of the coolness and the water in the house. Kid chose to stay because of the possibility of meeting this kidnapper.

Liz was outvoted. The trio was staying in the village where many had either died, fled, or vanished.

Night eventually fell onto the desert like a cold hand gripping prey. The stars dazzled brightly in the black sky, the moon hanging up on display. It sort of looked like an art project of sort. As if the moon was paper with water drizzled here and there, the stars were glitter, and it all was glued down onto a piece of black paper.

The desert turned from really hot to chilly as the sun said goodbye and hung up the little art project in its place. Kid clung his jacket closer to his body as he, Liz, and Patty all evenly divided up some water and food portions.

The food was nothing by very dry meat and fruit. Kid himself didn't care much for meat, let alone meat without any liquid whatsoever, but he forced himself to devour the slab of pork and felt shudders go up his spin as it slid down into his stomach. Simply because he was hungry.

Liz and Patty hungrily devoured their portions like two wolves who hadn't tasted food in a week. They ate until they had cleaned their plates, and by then Kid had left them and had taken position beside the box cut into the wall that was the window of the house.

His eyes stared out into the vast ocean of sand and stars, out at the sea of darkness that they had traveled so far out to. Liz and Patty noticed that he was glaring at particularly nothing.

"Patty," Liz whispered, "do you know what's wrong with Kid?"

"Nope!" Patty tittered. "Maybe he forgot to fold the toilet paper again."

"I don't think that's it," Liz muttered. "He's been sort of off since last night. I think by then he would have folded some toilet paper."

"I can hear you two."

Liz and Patty turned towards Kid, who was staring with narrowed eyes at them. Liz's heart almost stopped when she realized they had been speaking a little on the loud side. Patty was just neutral.

"Tell me," Kid murmured, "have I really been that way?"

Liz itched the back of her head. "Y-You sort of have…"

"… I see." Kid paused for a second before saying, "I spoke to my mother last night."

"Your mother?" Liz thought for a minute.

"Yes, my mother. As in the one I have photos of at home. Morlina is her name."

"Oh, right!"

"Well, I spoke to her. I saw her face for the first time in three years. The last time she smiled at me was when I was twelve years old."

"Kid, that's wonderful!" Liz and Patty smiled at him warmly.

"No, it's not," Kid muttered, his face darkening. "We spoke on Father's mirror. She's not actually in Death City and who knows when she will be." He sighed, his expression turning to that of sadness. "I love my parents, I really do. But sometimes anxiety can pile up, and when I spoke to my mother I guess I just indirectly took it out on everyone. I'm sorry."

Kid smiled at his partners, his eyebrows pointing up as if he was nervously smiling.

"That's okay, Kid!" Patty slapped Kid's back with such a force that it almost knocked the boy over. "We still love you!"

"You can tell us anything, Kid," Liz went on, slapping Kid's back as well. "We're your friends."

Kid, after recovering from the back-slaps, whispered, "Thank you, girls…"

A heartbeat of silence passed. Then came the sound.

It was like a cackle of some sort, a voice that was thickly coated with madness. Then there was pounding. As if on cue, a nearby house collapsed. Without taking time to look at what was happening, Kid dove to the floor, grabbing the shoulders of his partners and bringing them down with him.

They hit the floor with a loud _THUD!_

"Ow!" Liz hissed.

"Hush!" Kid seethed to the two. "Sit up and go into weapon form, _now_!"

"Aye-aye!" Patty whispered.

"Whatever," Liz muttered.

In a flash of pink, the two girls had shot up into the air and fallen down into Kid's palms as two silver pistols. Kid blew a lock of hair out from his face and peeked out the corner of the window.

His eyes took in the collapsed house, a shadowed figure in the middle of the wreckage. His eyes were black and plastered with insanity and evil, his black hair tousled and dirty. His right shirt sleeve was rolled up while the left was pulled down. Speaking of his shirt, it was a sort of plaid, thin jacket over a black short-sleeved shirt that Kid could see through the jacket. He had torn, jagged jeans hanging from his waits and wrapping around his thighs.

His skin was a tan color, with jet black stubble growing around his chin and mouth. His shoes were but a sandal and a tennis shoe; the tennis shoe had a huge tear in the toe area. His teeth were jagged and gnarled, chipped and scratched, visible as he smiled evilly in the night.

In other words, he was an abomination to the world of symmetry.

Then the stranger spoke. "Where are you, Shinigami?!" The voice coming from his mouth was heavily loaded with a desire to kill, the desire to inflict damage. "I know you're here!"

What? Well, that was strange. This guy knew Kid was around, he knew Kid was a Grim Reaper, and not to mention he didn't look like he wanted to invite Kid to a slumber party.

"_Kid, what should we do?_" Liz asked cautiously.

"What else?" Kid muttered, gritting his teeth. "That man is an abomination! How dare he wear something as asymmetrical as that and then come searching for me?!"

"_That's what you're worried about right now?!_"

"We're fighting this guy, whoever he is, and we'll make him pay!"

Kid rose fully, pointed his pistols out the window and towards the stranger, and squeezed the triggers with his pinkies.

_BANG! BANG!_

Two pink balls of energy shot out from the pistols and traveled towards the man. Once the guy saw and heard this, he quickly brought his arms up in an "X" formation around his face.

The bullets forced him backward a foot or two, but then they dissolved and he stranger eyed Kid.

"So," he muttered, "I've finally found Death's son in this barren desert."

Kid took a flying leap out of the window and landed some distance away from his opponent.

"I assume you're responsible for the many disappearances and deaths of this place?" Kid growled.

"Right you are!" The stranger clapped, and Kid noticed drool running down from the guy's mouth. "Lord Death must really trust you to send you out here!"

"This is just another mission. I'll take care of you and be on my way!" Kid suddenly turned his left arm up at a ninety-degree angle, angling his wrist so that Patty was pointing at the opponent. He did the same with his other arm, however this time his arm was pointed downward and Liz was facing to the area behind Kid. He moved into a sideways position and leaned back a bit, so that his upper body was slanted. He balanced his left foot on his toes, and stuck the leg out slightly.

"Death god martial arts," he seethed. "Stance of sin!" Kid narrowed his eyes and whispered, "You'll rue this day, good sir."

The stranger yanked something from his pocket and tossed it at Kid. There was an explosion of smoke, and Kid quickly squinted his eyes so that the putrid smoke would not reach them.

His keen ears picked up a sound towards his side, and he immediately began to fire his pistols in the direction.

Something proceeded to slam into his back, sending Kid into a barrel roll. He quickly stopped and stood up, glaring at his opponent who wielded a small, glowing sword shooting from the back of his hand.

"If a fight's what you want," the stranger sneered, "then I'll make that happen!"

With a swing of his arm, about ten glowing shards of something sharp shot towards Kid. He shot to the ground, narrowly missing them as they whizzed over his head. Moving up to a kneel, Kid fired his pistols at his opponent's legs and upper body.

_BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!_

Using the blade emerging from his hand, the opponent quickly deflected every shot with a swing of his arm.

_CLING! CLING! CLING! CLING!_

Kid rolled to the side as one of his bullets flew at his face.

"He's fast," Kid muttered. Kid shot four more rounds once more.

_BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!_

As he shot them, he noticed that the stranger was quickly advancing in Kid's direction. Before Kid could react, a kick connected with his lower jaw, and he went flying backwards. Pain exploded in Kid's mouth as his teeth jammed into each other, and more pain slammed into Kid' stomach as he landed hard on the ground.

"_Kid!_" Patty screeched. "_Are you okay?!_"

Kid supported himself with his elbows. "Just fine…"

_SLAM!_

The same foot that hit Kid's jaw slammed down into his back, sending him crashing down to the ground again.

"_Kid!_" Liz and Patty yelled out in unison.

Suddenly, there was a quiet beeping sound. The stranger took a glance at the watch on his wrist and grinned.

"Ah," he chuckled. "It seems out play time is over. We'll meet again, Reaper!"

The guy took a flying leap into the air, landing on one of the rooftops.

"Wait a minute!" Kid screeched, roughly getting himself up, pointing his pistols at the man. "Come back or I'll shoot you!"

"Oh! Almost forgot!"

Finally making use of the pistol he had in his hands, the stranger leaped in the air, turned midair, and fired one round towards Kid.

A sharp pain stabbed into Kid's arm, and he let out a cry of pain. He felt something warm spray onto his face, and he realized it had to be some of his blood.

"Until we meet again, Death the Kid!"

And when Kid looked up, the stranger had disappeared from sight.

Kid dropped his weapons and clutched his arm. As Liz and Patty transformed, he noticed that his opponent had launched a fairly large dart into Kid.

_Of all things, why a dart?_

"Kid," Liz whimpered, approaching Kid. "Let me see your arm!"

"It's alright," Kid said with a cringe. "It's just a dart in there." Glaring at the sky, Kid went on, "How dare he shoot one dart into my arm and not the other! The scoundrel!"

"Do you need us to take it out?" Patty asked innocently.

"No need." Before Liz and Patty could react or tell him to wait, Kid had grabbed the dart and pulled it out of his arm. Blood spurted from the wound like a fountain. Kid examined the dart for a second, studied the long, blood-covered needle in the front, then dropped the thing.

"Kid!" Liz screeched. "You shouldn't just yank it out!"

"I'm only worried about the amount of blood that's coming out," Kid mused, ignoring Liz totally. "But even now the bleeding is slowing down. I'll bandage it in a moment and we'll be off."

"Off where?" Patty asked.

"To chase after that psychopath, of course!" Kid replied. "We can't let that abomination to symmetry and murderer get away. First, however," Kid went on, pulling up both of his sleeves and only examining the single wound, "we'll report this to my Father."

"Why now? Shouldn't we take care of your arm first?!"

"We'll do it afterwards. In any case, I should probably apologize for being such a jerk recently."

_Oh, what's the use_, Liz thought. _At least he's ready to apologize._

Kid took a couple of steps away from his partners, rubbed his hands together, and stuck out his two index and ring fingers. On cue, pink balls of energy formed on the tips of his fingers, and began to combine and move towards the ground in the form of a skull.

Then all of a sudden, the energy rushed back into Kid's arms, and all was silent.

"Kid?" Patty asked.

_What is this sensation? _Kid thought, staring at his hands as his vision began to blur.

"Kid, are you okay?" Liz asked.

_My head is pounding, I'm sweating like a maniac…_

"Kid, what's happening? Are you hot?"

_What's happening? Why is this-_

Kid's hands all of a sudden shot to his chest, and he let out a scream of pain.

"_**Kid!**_"

Liz and Patty ran over to their meister just as the boy sank down to his knees and began to cough and whimper in agony.

"My… Chest…" Kid hacked out the words like it was a hard achievement.

"Kid is your chest hurting you?!" Liz frantically asked. "What's the matter?"

Kid's hand shot to his mouth, and with a loud cough blood began to drip between his fingers.

"Oh, dear God!" Liz screeched. "Patty, what do we do?!"

"Uh," Patty frantically searched her brain for an answer. "We need to contact Lord Death, I think!"

"How do we do that?!" Liz breathed, as she tried to get Kid to sit up. "Kid is the only one within miles who can do that summon-y thing!"

Wait a second. A memory of Maka Albarn, a close friend at the DWMA shot into Liz's mind.

**0o0o0**

_Pulling out a small, handheld mirror, Maka fogged the glass and began to write something in with her finger._

"_42-42-564," she chanted, "if you ever need to knock on Death's door."_

**0o0o0**

"A mirror!" Liz yelled. "Patty, quick, go find a mirror and bring it here! I'll look after Kid!"

"Right!" Patty saluted, then began to run off into one of the buildings.

"Hurry!" Liz yelled at her sister, then turned her attention back to her meister.

Blood covered Kid's hand as he coughed and clutched his chest area. Never before had he experienced such a pain, such a sensation in his life. It felt like a thousand knives, a million bullets, billions of needles had been plunged deep into his chest, and double the bullets into his lungs. It felt like smoke was building up into his windpipe, choking him and trying to destroy Kid's ability to breathe.

"Liz," Kid wheezed in a voice that was barely a whisper. He felt like a little boy again, his mother's hands on his back as he cried. His voice sort of sounded like it did when he was little too.

"I'm right here, Kid. You'll be fine, I promise." Liz's voice sort of sounded like Kid's mother's. Or maybe he was just hallucinating. Who was he again? Where was he? He had to become a great Grim Reaper. What is a Grim Reaper, anyway? Why did his chest hurt?

All these questions made their way into Kid's mind as he gave away to the dizzying blackness that was unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

Death's eyes scanned the vast ocean of colors that made up the sky in Death City. Purple, pink, red, and orange mixed together as the Sun tried to fight off sleep and the Moon began to take its place. Children ran from their play outside and reunited with their parents at home. Gangs began to creep into alleys, waiting for an unfortunate soul with money or maybe just heading back to their hideouts.

Death wasn't looking for those kinds of people, however. He was on the lookout for two young girls on a flying skateboard with a teenage boy slung over their shoulders.

He had been with his weapon, Spirit, in the Death Room, when all of a sudden someone called them from Death's mirror. Death answered, expecting to see his son and his partners. And he did. But not in the way he imagined.

Liz was in a panic; she must have been holding a mirror because Death noticed that her end of the screen was shaking. Death told the girl to calm down, and she explained how Kid had been shot with a dart, the enemy had escaped, and Kid had suddenly collapsed to the ground and began to complain of trouble breathing and chest pains.

They couldn't move now, in the middle of the night. The girls reported that they needed to get home tomorrow and keep Kid alive.

"Well," Death had said, "I can send someone down there, but the problem is I don't quite know how long it will take."

"We can bring him back!" Liz had screeched. "Just tell us what we need to do to help Kid!"

"How exactly do you plan to get back here?"

"Kid left that flying skateboard of his here; we can use that!"

Death was skeptical. "The board is specially made to match only Kid's wavelengths. Are you sure you can ride it?"

"We're sure!"

"Alright then, I'll be awaiting you three in Death City. Now, as for what you should do for Kid until the morning…"

And that was why Lord Death was waiting outside of the DWMA. He had left the girls with detailed instructions on what to do for Kid, which basically were 'keep him cool' and 'don't attempt CPR unless he stops breathing' and on and on. At his left side stood Nygus, the school nurse, and to his right stood Professor Stein, one of the school teachers, and Sid, a zombie, gym teacher, and Nygus's meister partner.

"Do you think they'll be here soon?" Stein asked, puffing on a small cigarette in his mouth. His voice was unusually calm.

"They should be," Death responded.

"Just in case, maybe Sid and I should go look for them," Nygus added. Her voice was also normal, but it radiated waves of worry.

"If they don't show up in five minutes or more, you and Sid can go search," Death replied. "I wonder how they're handling that skateboard."

"Wait a second," Sid interrupted. "Did you all hear that sound?"

Everyone listened. Nobody spoke or breathed. And, sure enough, there was the sound of screaming that was coming in their direction.

Everyone angled their heads upward, and boy, what a sight they saw.

Two girls, one taller than the other, riding on a flying skateboard approached quickly. A person was slung over the tallest one's shoulders. The smallest was laughing; her comrade was screaming curses and swearing uncontrollably.

The skateboard they were riding on was going up and down, side to side in a zigzag formation. It was kind of amusing to watch, until the adults realized who these people were.

Liz and Patty Thompson and Death the Kid. They were headed straight for the school and were thousands of feet off the ground.

Wonderful.

"Lord Death, what do we do?!" Nygus asked in a panic.

"I warned them," Death muttered.

**0o0o0**

"Yay!" Patty squealed. "This is so fun!"

"Patty," Liz screeched, struggling to keep a balance on the skateboard, keeping Kid around her shoulders, and not to look down, "we're thousands of feet above ground, riding on an out-of-control skateboard, and we might die! This isn't fun at all!"

"Just imagine you're flying, big sis!"

Liz rolled her eyes. "We fly around with Kid in weapon form all the time, this isn't any sort of new feeling!"

"But I can finally feel the wind in my hair!" Patty replied.

Liz let out a sigh, right before the skateboard made a sudden swerve to the side and back. Liz clung onto Kid with one hand, and Patty with the other as the flying board jerked all over the place. All the while, Liz noticed that they were headed straight for one of the cones jutting out of the DWMA's architecture. At this rate, they would smash straight into either the sharp point on the cone or the wall of the school.

Wonderful.

Liz began to mutter, "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" Her cries grew louder as they quickly advanced. Liz let out a blood-curdling scream and pulled Patty up into her arms. She clutched at Kid's suit with one hand, and prepared for their rough landing.

Then, a miracle occurred.

The spike just missed the girls; instead it swept the skateboard out from under their feet, sending the trio falling onto the fatter area of the cone. Liz let go of both Kid and Patty at this time, and before she could scramble over to them, she found herself slipping over the edge. She clawed at the cone with her nails, but eventually she, Patty, and Kid all began to plummet down, down to the ground.

Liz screeched and prepared herself for the pain to come.

But none came. Only a hard, painless landing on something soft. Liz opened her eyes to be greeted by the spectacles of Professor Stein.

He smiled at her. "Looks like you're alright, Liz."

Liz blinked, and craned her neck to see where her comrades were. Patty was caught by Sid, and she was in the process of explaining how fun that was. Kid was nestled in Lord Death's large white hands, while Nygus gave the trio a quick once-over.

"You girls seem okay," she said, worry hanging over her voice like a storm, "but I'm worried about Kid. If what you told us is true, then he's not doing well."

Sid and Stein let the girls down from their grasp. Immediately, Liz began to worry.

"What's wrong?" She exclaimed. "Is he okay?"

"I won't know unless I see for myself. Lord Death, can you get him to the infirmary while Stein and I go and make preparations?"

"Of course," Lord Death agreed.

"Preparations?" Patty asked.

"For what?" Liz inquired.

"Not sure," Nygus responded. "It'll probably be an X-ray or, if serious enough, surgery."

The Thompson sisters felt their hearts stop for a few seconds. The scene following was a blur of coaxing words and hands, running feet, and closing of doors. The twin sisters soon found themselves in the hallway just outside the infirmary.

"B-Big sis?" Patty stammered. "Do you think Kid-kun will be okay?"

Liz smiled nervously. "He'll be fine, Patty!" She responded. "Just wait and see. He'll be back on the mission in no time!"

Liz felt like she was trying to convince herself rather than her sister. A sense of unease clung around her heart like a tumor. She felt like something awful was happening inside that infirmary.

She would soon learn to trust her instincts and she and Patty waited outside the door to the infirmary.

**0o0o0**

"Liz, Patty, are you awake?"

Liz felt a warm hand grasp onto her shoulder and shake her lightly. She opened her eyes to find herself staring into the green eyes of Maka Albarn. Beside her stood her weapon partner, Soul Evans. Soul seemed worried for the two girls, but the look in his eyes showed a fire of dread. As in the sort of 'I have a really bad feeling' dread. Behind Soul hid the small and meek Crona, a pink-haired young kid who, in Liz's eyes, showed potential for being quite the powerful meister.

Off to Maka's right stood the slim and tall Tsubaki, a sweet black-haired Japanese girl who was partnered with Black Star. Speaking of Black Star, he stood beside Tsubaki, his arms folded and his eyebrow folded down into the usual, determined stare.

"Maka?" Liz muttered, surprised at how tired she herself sounded. "What are you all doing here?"

"We should be asking you guys the same thing," Maka replied, rising to her feet and brushing the dust from her plaid skirt. "School just ended an hour or two ago. Have you two been sleeping here this whole time?"

Liz looked over at Patty, who was proceeding to yawn and wipe the sleep out of her bleary eyes. Maka extended her gloved hands to the two girls, who each took one as the girl helped them to their feet.

"So," Liz asked, "what are you all doing here?"

Maka smiled in Crona's direction. "Soul and I were here helping Crona with homework," Maka replied. "Well, it was more like I was helping. Soul was just sleeping."

"I haven't slept well lately, Maka," Soul retorted. "Let me nap in peace."

"Black Star was serving a detention," Tsubaki sighed in an exasperated tone of voice. "He decided to go hang around with these three, though. I've been trying to get him to go back."

"The almighty Black Star does not waste time serving detention when he could be spending some productive time with his friends!" Black Star laughed heartily. "If I'm going to surpass God, I don't need to serve any detention whatsoever!"

Tsubaki rolled her eyes. "So then, what are you two doing here?" She asked, staring straight at Liz and Patty. "You've been out of today's classes, so we all thought you were sick or something."

Sick?

"So, where's Kid? Off to check the toilet paper again?" Maka tittered, a sweet smile on her face.

Remembrance hit the Thompson sisters like a hammer to a nail. They weren't the ones who were sick, but something was definitely wrong with Kid if he hadn't exited the infirmary by now. He would've let the sisters know that they could continue the mission tomorrow, and the trio would have returned home and laughed over a nice cup of hot chocolate or tea.

Patty looked down at the floor and muttered, "Kid's in the infirmary."

Maka's eyebrows, along with everyone else's, angled into a worried sort of look.

"Infirmary?" She breathed. "Why is he there?"

Before Liz or Patty could respond, there came the creak of a door, and Nygus stepped out from the infirmary.

"Hmm?" Nygus inquired, staring at the twin pistol sisters. "You two are still here? And you brought your friends?"

Liz made a worried nod, and asked, "Is he okay?"

Nygus itched the back of her head. "I think you two should come inside with me. Your friends can come too."

"What's wrong?" Maka demanded.

"Did something happen to Kid?" Soul chimed in.

"Is Kid alright?" Crona asked meekly.

Nygus waved the questions away with her hand as if they were flies. "Too many questions," she sighed. "You all should just come in and see."

Liz and Patty were the first of the teenagers to step into the infirmary. What they saw was a sight they never imagined they'd see.

Death the Kid, the son of Lord Death, was lying face-up in a white hospital bed, an oxygen mask clinging to his face. An IV bag dangled over to his left, a small cord falling down, and travelling upward into the bed, inserting it somewhere in Kid's body that neither Liz nor Patty could see. His suit was stripped from his body, leaving him only in a button-up white shirt with the sleeves yanked up to about his shoulders. A washcloth was laid across his forehead, and Kid glistened with perspiration.

A large, white blanket covered his body, only revealing the area from the shoulders up. His once well-kept, feathery black-and-white hair was now a pile of black-and-white sticks piled upon his head. His breathing was deep, and he wheezed or coughed every so often.

It was quite the sight to see for anyone. One so powerful had been struck down. But by what?

Liz felt Patty squeeze her hand, and she squeezed back. Liz looked up at the other two adults in the room: Sid and Stein. Stein did not dare smoke a cigarette, Side stood there, watching with a blank expression.

"Hold on," Maka whispered, clutching onto Soul's hand. "What's wrong with Kid?!" Soul was speechless, but he seemed equally shocked. Crona stood there, fear dancing in her eyes as she watched the Grim Reaper's son struggle for air.

"Don't tell me," Black Star growled, "that he's sick with the flu or something! Get up, Kid! The flu can't strike you down just like that-"

Black Star was cut off as Tsubaki gave him the glare that read, '_What on earth are you doing? This isn't the time_!'

"Well, we found out what was wrong," Stein replied, staring at the group of children. "But it's not good."

There was that tumor in Liz's heart again. But this time, it consisted of fear.

"What is it?" Liz asked cautiously and calmly. Inside she wanted to scream.

"Wait," Maka interrupted, "Grim Reapers can't get sick! They have an especially strong immune system that-"

"It's Death's Demure," Stein continued.

Death's Demure? Even that sounded ominous. But not one student in that room had a clue as to what it was.

"Death's Demure?" Tsubaki wondered aloud. "What on earth is that?

"Allow me to explain."

The students all turned to look into the mask of Lord Death himself. The Grim Reaper moved into the infirmary, taking up a position at the end of Kid's bed. He turned his eyes to his students, and tilted his head.

"I guess this is sort of like an extra history class," Death went on in his goofy voice.

"Lord Death," Liz said, stepping towards the Reaper. "What is the matter with Kid?"

Lord Death let out a sigh. "I suppose there's no harm in telling you. Well, listen carefully. Back before the birth of the Kishin, there were many more Grim Reapers aside from myself. That's how we originally got the job of reaping the souls of dead humans finished so quickly. There were probably thousands, maybe millions of us. Looking back on it now, it was quite a nice arrangement."

"So what happened?" Soul inquired. "If things were so great, why did they all disappear?"

"Disappear?" Lord Death replied. "Well, we did our job quite efficiently. But there was a large cult who met in a large maze of catacombs and tunnels under Death City. Which, as we all know, is where the Kishin would soon sleep. Anyway, the cult was made up of people who loathed us reapers and of scientists. They all had the supreme goal of surpassing death, life, and eventually everything in existence. They figured that in order to surpass Grim Reapers, they needed to wipe us out entirely. The cult's scientist worked for years, and finally created a disease which was especially deadly when exposed to a Reaper. They called it the Demure, but it evolved into Death's Demure since it spread so quickly."

"And… Kid's a reaper," Patty mumbled.

"And he has the disease," Liz whispered.

"Correct," Death went on. "The disease eventually killed off everyone in the cult, as well, as it could affect humans as well as reapers. By the time a cure was found and the disease was exterminated, there were only two reapers left. That would be Kid's mother and myself."

"If the disease was wiped out," Maka chimed in, "then how does Kid have it? And how on earth can it affect a Grim Reaper?"

"Well," Death replied, "the disease today must be injected into someone before it can start up again, and from what we've discovered it doesn't seem to be contagious anymore. So, Kid was shot with a dart containing the disease. We reapers have special, skull-shaped white-blood cells that stockpile in our bodies. Once we even begin to get sick, the stockpile eradicates the problem at its source, and that's why we don't get sick. However, with something like the Death's Demure, once the stockpile of white-blood cells come near the disease, they're poisoned and destroyed. The disease quickly spreads throughout the body, and eventually it poisons every vital organ within your body so that they don't function anymore. Eventually, your whole body stops working and you die within a period of seven days."

This left the children in pure, numb shock.

"Hold on," Tsubaki said, fighting to keep her voice steady. "You said a cure was found, right? What's the cure?"

Lord Death turned towards his wheezing son. "I have a list for all the necessary ingredients for the cure," Lord Death replied. "However, it's a little dangerous to acquire. I'm leaving it up to the adults here."

"Let us get the stuff, sir!" Liz exclaimed, taking a step towards Lord Death and giving him a clear view of her brimming eyes. "If there's a chance of saving Kid, Patty and I have to help! Please let us help!"

Lord Death shook his head. "It's too dangerous."

"Please!" Liz fell at the feet of the Reaper, letting her tears drip down onto the floor. Patty soon joined her, letting her tears flow as well.

"Lord Death," Maka murmured, "please let us do this. We want to help our friend out."

"If Kid is about to die," Black Star went on, "he has to live somehow so I can finally beat him in a battle!"

Crona murmured agreement to her friends' testimonies.

Lord Death was silent before saying, "I might lose my son, I can't lose my students too."

Liz and Patty rose, let out a final strangled cry, and left their friends and teachers in the infirmary with their dying meister. Maka and Soul shuffled away as well, and soon followed Crona, Black Star, and Tsubaki.

Lord Death stared once more at Kid, watched as the blush on his cheeks formed in a bright red bundle while the rest of the color drained from his face. He watched as his son wheezed and hacked and struggled for air, and he noticed the eerie feeling clinging to the air that no adult would be setting out to find the cure.

**0o0o0**

Death the Kid opened his eyes to find himself… Well, he wasn't quite sure.

As he gazed about the area, he noticed that everything was just… black. No objects, nothing. Just a blackness with him smack in the middle.

Well that's wonderful.

Where exactly was he? And what had happened?

He felt the floor beneath him and made an attempt to sit up. Before he could, however, a sharp pain rushed through his forehead. His hand shot over to his face, rubbing the painful area in a circular motion until the pain subsided.

_What the hell is going on? _Kid thought.

Suddenly, he caught side of his black jacket sleeves. The one clinging to his left arm had a large tear just where the arm bent forward, the one clinging to his right was perfect.

Immediately, the symmetry-obsessed boy was set off by this.

"You're a disgrace!" He hissed at his sleeve. "How dare you rip now?! I'll fix you later, but for now, _Begone!_"

Kid tore his jacket from his person and just held it in his hands while he admired his work. Ah, sweet symmetry. It was then that he noticed the red mark drawn across his right sleeve and a blue squiggle running down his left arm.

_So that's how it was going to be…_

Kid proceeded to tear off both of his sleeves, throwing them off somewhere, and proceeding to check himself for anything asymmetrical.

Nothing else on his arms.

Nothing wrong with his pants.

Wait, hold on a second.

Kid removed the skull broach that hung around his neck and looked at it. One eye was larger than the other. How disgraceful!

Kid threw the thing far away from him, and muttered, "How utterly disappointing."

Kid looked up to see a new object in his line of vision. Something shiny. Curious Kid crawled over to examine it. When he picked up the smooth, round object in his hand, he was met by his own pale, honey-eyed expression.

So this was a mirror.

Kid glanced up from the mirror, looked around for a second, and gazed at the mirror once more. His hair immediately snapped to his attention. Why wouldn't it, considering the striped running through his black hair had changed totally.

One line had switched its side; the other two had changed from straight to zigzagging all over Kid's hair or moving around in swirls.

Disgusted with himself, Kid threw the mirror with all his might far away from him. He did not hear it land, nor shatter.

Kid slumped to the ground. "I'm such a worthless piece of asymmetrical garbage!" he screeched in agony. Suddenly, a light came on. And with this light cam every asymmetrical thing Kid could ever imagine in his lifetime.

**0o0o0**

"Nygus? How's Kid doing?"

The bandage-wrapped weapon wiped the sweat from her brow and looked at Sid. Nygus was a little exhausted from the excitement of today; she had found out that one of her best students had a deadly disease that may cost him his life, and not to mention he had just been screaming in his sleep for someone to save him.

"I've calmed him down for now," Nygus replied. "His heart rate is a little higher than normal, but it'll drop soon enough. I don't understand what made him freak out like that, though."

Stein, who had stayed in the infirmary since Kid was brought back, gazed at the two partners before chiming in, "Did Lord Death neglect to tell you?"

Nygus and Sid turned to stare at the scientist. "Tell us what?"

Stein chuckled. "The Death's Demure was created to make its victims suffer a pain worse than death. To do that, part of the disease heads to that place in your brain that holds your worst fears possible, picks seven of the worst, and presents you with a nightmare or hallucination of that paticular fear for every day of the disease."

Nygus's eyes widened, and Sid pressed his palm against his forehead.

"Well," Sid retorted, "what's Kid's first fear? Do you know?"

Stein looked up, laughed, and replied with, "I know one is asymmetry."

A silence fell over the room. Sid eventually left, probably to go speak to Lord Death about what he had just heard.

"They get worse, though," Stein said just after Sid disappeared.

"Worse?" Nygus replied, that dark thunderstorm of fear looming over her words again.

"If this is Kid's first nightmare," Stein replied, "and if this is the first day, he has a long way to go and a lot of emotional pain to go through."

The two turned to stare at Kid, who was wheezing and wheezing as his two teachers' hearts dropped into their stomachs with sympathy.

"The calm before the storm," Stein muttered, puffing on a cigarette.

**A/N- Hey guys! So I'm glad a lot of you enjoy this fanfic ^.^ I'm not very proud of this chapter (in fact I abhor it) and I'm sorry I didn't write the asymmetry dream out. It's a little late where I am and I'm getting eager to work on some other fanfics. But think of this as the calm before the storm, as Stein said. There's going to be a lot of emotional stuff going down as well as a little humor thrown in here-and-there, so get your favorite stuffed animal and get your best laugh ready (even though I'm not funny at all) and be prepared!**

**See you in the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

"It's alright, Liz, Patty, the teachers will get the cure and Kid's going to be alright."

"But we're his partners! If he's suffering we need to find some way to make it stop! Kid might die!"

Maka tenderly rubbed circles into Patty's back while Tsubaki cradled the two girls in her embrace. Liz and Patty were sobbing openly as their meister slowly wasted away. Soul and Black Star merely watched helplessly as their partners tried in vain to comfort the Thompson sisters.

The group of friends had made their way to the school's library, where Liz and Patty had been bawling together. The weapons and meisters moved the two girls over to one of the tables in the library and were doing their best to reassure them. It was really a pitiful sight to see.

"It isn't fair," Patty sobbed. "I want to be out there more than anyone else."

"Sometimes," Tsubaki cooed, "it's better to stand by someone's side and suffer with them rather than set out to find what can make them better. Just leave it to the more experienced meisters and weapons, and Kid will be back before you know it."

"But it's torture seeing him wheeze and hack up blood like this!" Liz retorted. "I can't stand it! How can I stay by his side when I can barely even look at him?"

And it was true. The memory of Kid lying helpless on the infirmary bed, the color drained from his face aside from the deep blush lining his cheeks, coughing and wheezing, gasping helplessly for air, haunted Liz and Patty like a ghost. It made the Thompson sisters want to cry all over again. It made them feel worthless, just watching him die, unable to do anything.

Tsubaki sighed. "We'll have to get through this all together, alright?" She sat back and ran her slender, pale fingers through Liz's hair. "Kid's going to be just fine."

The twin pistol sisters were totally silent. Maka continued to rub circles into Patty's back

"Say," Maka chimed in, "what do you say we all go get the cure before the adults go to get it?"

Tsubaki turned to Maka with a look that read _'Are you crazy?'_

"Think about it!" Maka went on. "Kid's our friend too! If he needs help, it's our responsibility as his friends to help him!"

Black Star grinned. "You're becoming quite the rebel, aren't you?"

"Maka," Tsubaki murmured, "we really shouldn't. Think about what Lord Death told us!"

"If Lord Death cares a lick about Kid," Maka retorted, "then he'd allow us to keep going once we're out there!"

Soul shrugged. "I'll go along with whatever you do, Maka," he said.

Maka smiled at him. "Soul and I are going!" She exclaimed, running to Soul's side and grinning. "Anyone who wants to join us is welcome! Crona?"

Everyone turned to look at Crona. She'd been very quiet throughout the whole ordeal. Everyone knew that Crona and Kid weren't best friends forever, but they were friends. Not as close as Crona and Maka, but close enough to care deeply.

Crona rose from her seat at the library table and made her way over to stand beside Maka and Soul.

"Ragnarok and I will go," Crona murmured. "And I won't let him try to talk me out of it."

"Alright!" Maka exclaimed. "Black Star, Tsubaki?"

"I'm in!" Black Star yelled. "No one can hold back the great almighty Black Star! I'll find this cure and once Kid is better, I'll beat him and finally surpass him in battle!" Black Star turned to Tsubaki. "Are you with me, Tsubaki?!"

Tsubaki stared for a moment, a small smile forming on her face. "Whatever you feel is right," she replied with a soft voice, "I'll follow you no matter what, Black Star."

"Alright! Now we're talking!" Black Star gave his partner a thumbs-up.

"Well," Maka continued, angling her eyes over to the grieving Thompson sisters. "Are you two in?"

"I am!" Patty's hand shot up into the air. "And if I'm in than Liz has to be! Come on, Liz!"

Liz was silent, then rose from her seat and agreed, "I'm with you guys."

"Yay!" Patty cried. "An adventure!"

"Hey, wait a second," Soul interrupted. "Lord Death said he had a list of all the ingredients for the cure. How do you suggest we go and get it? We can't just stroll in and ask for it."

"I know," Maka muttered. "I'm thinking…"

"Hey, you kids."

Heads snapped in the direction of this new voice, and they met the stern blue eyes of none other than Lord Death's weapon and Maka's father, Spirit.

"P-Papa?" Maka murmured.

"I heard everything," Spirit replied, advancing towards the stunned students.

"W-What do you mean?" Liz went on. "W-We were just…"

"I heard your idea, and I want to help you." Spirit's stern eyes melted into caring and his mouth turned upwards in a smile.

"Help us?" Maka breathed.

"But of course. I think that you all are more than capable of doing this. I happen to have a list of ingredients for the cure to the Death's Demure," Spirit pulled two pieces of paper out from under his jacket, "along with directions for the ones that you can't randomly seek out."

Maka gratefully took the papers from her father. "Guys," she said, turning towards her friends and smiling. "Get ready, we're leaving shortly."

A cheer erupted from the students, who all rushed off to collect the necessary items needed for this trip. As Maka was leaving, however, her father stopped her.

"So," Spirit said, grinning at his daughter, "Maka, isn't your dad so cool for doing this?"

"Dad, I appreciate this, but buzz off." Maka left the library while her father sank down to the floor and beat the ground with his fists.

**0o0o0**

Kid blinked open his tired eyes, greeted by a bright light shining down into his face. He immediately shut his eyes once more and girt his teeth. He waited for a heartbeat or two, then slowly opened his eyes up and let them adjust to the light.

He turned his head to observe his surroundings. A silver staff with an IV bag lingered to his left side, as did a silver nightstand with a glass of water and a syringe. He moved his hand to feel whatever he was lying on. It was soft, and he noticed a white blanket was draped over his thin figure.

So that's where he was. The infirmary of the DWMA. Why was he here?

As he slowly regained his senses, he noticed a throbbing, dull pain within his chest area. He made an attempt to move his hand over to that area, but his joints and muscles felt stiff and frozen. His head felt hot, but he felt cold. Yet he could feel himself dripping with sweat. A pressure around his mouth made him notice that an oxygen mask clung to his face. Rightfully so. Kid felt his breathing slip up for a second, and he let out a loud cough that somewhat cleared his windpipe up.

Kid felt like his throat was just rubbed down with sandpaper or lit on fire. It itched and burned, and his vision all of a sudden began to blur. His stomach seemed to not be agreeing too well with whatever Kid had eaten, for Kid had a stomach ache that he had never, not once felt before.

_All this after I've just woken up?!_

Kid grit his teeth and tried to breathe steadily. He turned his head to his right, looking around to see if there was anyone around who could explain to him what was going on.

Sure enough, Kid's eyes found the school nurse herself, Nygus. She was busying herself with some papers at her desk. Beside her stood Kid's father's death scythe, Spirit.

Kid made an attempt to call for Nygus, but his voice stopped and twisted, and only a feeble cough emerged.

_Have to get her attention somehow…_

Kid coughed once more, grit his teeth, inhaled, and made an attempt to speak again. This time he got results.

"Ny…us…." Kid rasped in a voice barely audible.

Nygus's vigilant hearing caught Kid's mini-distress-call in a second. Immediately, she had made her way over to Kid.

"So," she greeted warmly, "you're awake at last, Kid. I'm glad."

"He's awake?" Spirit said, moving over to Kid's bedside as well. "Finally."

Nygus reached a hand to Kid's burning forehead.

"Your fever is still raging," she breathed. "But you'll be alright. Is there anything you need, Kid?"

Kid coughed once, attempted to muster up a word, failed the first time, and succeeded the second.

"Water…" Kid breathed.

"Of course." Nygus grabbed the glass from Kid's nightstand and sat on the edge of his bed. "I'm going to need you to sit up a bit. Can you handle that?"

Kid nodded, and managed to struggle up into a sitting position. His back and stomach screamed, and Nygus could tell by his expression that he was in a lot of pain. When Kid was ready, Nygus cupped his chin in one of her hands, removed Kid's oxygen mask, and slowly tipped the glass of water into Kid's dry mouth.

Kid drank the whole glass down eagerly. When it was finished, he felt himself breathe clearly for a few brief moments before his throat started to burn and itch again. Nygus helped Kid back into his original lying down position.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Cold…" Kid wheezed.

"Are you in any pain at all?"

Kid only responded with a nod. Nygus's eyebrows angled up in a worried expression.

"Just rest for now, and I'll do my best to try and help you, alright?"

"Yes…"

Spirit's hand pressed against Kid's forehead to see for himself how sick Kid was. When he pulled away, his hand was coated in Kid's sweat and he was shaking his head. Kid took that as a sign that something was definitely wrong.

Nygus had just risen from the bed when she heard the door creak open. Looking up, she noticed that Lord Death stood in the doorway. She beckoned him inside with a hand, and once Lord Death had joined her she said, "He's awake."

Lord Death gazed down at his sickly son, who had a disease that was probably going to painfully rob him of his life. Yet Lord Death somehow mustered up his usual cheerful voice.

"Hiya, Kiddo!" He greeted, reaching down and ruffling Kid's sweat-covered hair. Death had the good grace not to wipe his hand off. "How're you feeling? Did you sleep well?"

"Dad," Kid wheezed, coughing between words, "what's wrong… with… me…?"

Death glance around the room for help, however he received none.

With a sigh, the suffering father replied with, "Remember that story your mother and I told you about when you were little? About the raging disease that wiped out almost all Grim Reapers?"

Kid slowly nodded.

"Whoever you were fighting somehow injected you with that disease," Death went on.

What? Oh, no, this couldn't be happening. Kid's expression turned to that of fear and horror as he gazed at his father.

"Don't worry!" Lord Death continued. "I'm sending out some others to acquire the cure! You'll be fine and you'll be back on your feet before you know it." Lord Death turned to Nygus and Spirit. "Speaking of which, do you two know what I did with the list of ingredients for the cure? I could've sworn I left it hanging on my mirror…"

Spirit immediately looked under pressure and when he spoke, he seemed on edge and nervous.

"Uh," Spirit stammered, "Y-You see, s-sir, I kind of… I kind of sent the kids out with the list… and they're looking for the cure…"

There was a silence hanging over the room. Then Spirit screamed in pain because Lord Death's hand had connected with his head.

"You sent out seven children," Death growled, his mask formed into a furious expression, "one being your own daughter, to find the ingredients of a cure for my dying son, and one small mistake could cost them their lives or my own son's!?"

"I'm sorry!" Spirit whimpered. "Liz and Patty were crying and it seemed like the right thing to do! So I sent them all out and they're all probably gone by now!"

Kid sat up about halfway than the normal sitting position, staring at Spirit with a look that screamed, '_What did you just say?_'

Liz and Patty Thompson? The twin pistol sisters had set out together to find the thing that could heal Kid? And, according to his father, acquiring said cure could be extremely treacherous?

Kid began to panic, but just as he began, Nygus firmly shoved him back down onto his back.

"Spirit!" Nygus hissed, gesturing towards Kid.

Kid tried to recall a time when he had seen the Thompson sisters cry. Was there even a time? He tried to summon up an image of a normal person crying and applied it to Liz and Patty. No, Patty was too optimistic, Liz was hard as a rock. There was no possible way Kid could ever imagine tears flowing out of their eyes.

But they had been _crying_. And now there was a chance that they could lose their lives? Not while he was around.

Kid made a feeble attempt to shake Nygus's hands from his shoulders.

"Liz… Patty…" Kid rasped.

"Kid," Nygus whispered, "calm down! They'll be fine, I promise!"

"Those idiots…!"

"Kid, we can't help them if you're here panicking! Just calm down!"

Kid made one last feeble struggle for freedom, and finally gave up escaping Nygus's grasp. Nygus released him, and turned to Lord Death.

"Sir," she said, "should we go and retrieve the kids?"

Lord Death was silent for a moment, his mind in deep consideration.

"Leave them be," he replied. "And come join me in the Death Room once you're ready, Nygus."

"Lord Death, sir, is that really the best-"

"They can handle it. Take care of Kid and we'll see you in a moment."

Kid watched helplessly as his father ruffled Kid's hair and left with Spirit, and he simply listened as Nygus told him that 'this would only hurt for a second.' She plunged a needle into his arm and gently pulled it from his skin, pressed her palm against his forehead once more, and disappeared from Kid's sight.

Kid felt his eyelids grow heavy. That must have been a tranquilizer or something of the sort that Nygus plunged into his bloodstream. Kid heard Nygus say something, something reassuring. He couldn't hear it, however, as he fell into a sweet, dreamless sleep.

**0o0o0**

Maka glared up at the laughing sun and squinted her eyes so that she could see through the glare of the sun and the wind whipping across her face. She was riding on the back of Soul's motorcycle, with one twin pistol in each of her pockets, clinging to Soul's body so that she wouldn't fall off. Crona's arms were wrapped around Maka's slim body, and Maka could hear Ragnarok complaining about how much he did not want to go.

Black Star ran beside the vehicle, holding Tsubaki in her enchanted sword form. He had a mischievous grin upon his mug, like he always did. The determined look in his eyes reminded Maka about how much he wanted to save Kid's life, which was just about as much as Liz and Patty wanted to. Maybe not as much, but somewhere nearby.

Maka pulled the small slip of paper listing the necessary ingredients for the cure to the Death's Demure. She held it secure against Soul's shoulder with both of her hands so that the wind would not blow it away, nor flip it about wildly so that Maka couldn't read.

"Let's see here," Maka muttered to herself. She set her eyes on the list and read to herself.

**List of Ingredients**

**-Holy Water**

**-Moondrop**

**-A Kishin egg**

**-The blood of an almost fully-formed Kishin**

Moondrop? What on earth was that? Maka replaced the list of ingredients with the list of locations and descriptions of each ingredient.

**Moondrop- An ancient flower born from a drop of blood from the moon. It is said to hold magical properties, and is located on the top of the Mountain of Souls. Legend has it that it is guarded by a ferocious monster who must deem anyone who wishes to take the flower worthy. If you're not worthy, you face certain death.**

Ah, that's what it was. That seemed fairly easy; climb to the top of a mountain, defeat a monster, and take a silly little flower. Alright then, what did it have down for Holy Water?

**Holy Water- Water with spiritual qualities; said to be miraculous, able to cure any disease or ailment.**

Maka nodded to herself, and suddenly lost her train of thought when Soul stopped the vehicle all of a sudden.

"Soul," Maka inquired, "why the sudden stop?"

Soul looked at her. "I think you have a call, Maka," he retorted, handing her a handheld mirror. Maka stared into the glass; her reflection was rippling and she heard the distinct sound of someone whispering, _Die, Die, Kill, Kill._

That could only mean one thing. Lord Death was calling.

Oh, no. Maka took the mirror and tapped the glass once with her finger. The ripples faded, and Maka soon found herself face-to-face with an angry Lord Death.

"Maka," Lord Death hissed angrily, "you all are in a world of trouble."

Maka's eyes widened, and she glanced around at her friends, desperately seeking a way out. What was she doing? There was no way out! They were miles out of Death City and in the middle of nowhere!

Maka let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, sir," she replied. "Don't expel us or anything, please!"

"Silence." Death raised a hand that signaled for Maka to bite her tongue. "Maka Albarn, you and your friends deliberately went against my orders, made off with important papers, and now you're risking your lives to acquire some of the most treacherous substances ever known!"

Maka grit her teeth together. Everyone held their breath.

"However," Lord Death went on, "I believe you all can save my son."


	4. Chapter 4

_Liz pressed her hand against the brick wall and shoved her pistol-sister under her victim's jaw._

"_Alright, kid," she hissed. "No fooling around, time to drop whatever cash you have on you right now."_

_The boy who looked about fourteen or fifteen stared at them like he was bored. The three white stripes in his hair glistened in the morning sunlight. His eyes were the color of amber, or honey, or something. His skin was pale, and if he hadn't been wearing the clothes he had on, Liz and Patty would have brushed him off as a bum. The kid had on a black business suit made of satin or silk, or whatever._

_The boy raised an eyebrow. "Money?" He inquired._

"_Yes," Liz growled, "as in Shibucents or Death-dollars. Whatever you have, drop it and I'll consider sparing your life."_

_The kid let out a sigh, trapped the pistol in Liz's hands between his two fingers, and moved it so that it pointed at the wall beside him._

"_Please," he said calmly, "this isn't civilized at all."_

_This earned him a pistol to the jaw once more._

"_You got a lot of nerve, boy!" Liz hissed. "I'll give you ten seconds before I take it by force!"_

"_Oh, dear," the victim cooed, "I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice."_

**0o0o0**

"Liz? Are you okay?"

Liz snapped out of her peaceful reverie and turned to stare at her younger sister.

Patty smiled. "You've been really quiet! Are you okay?"

Liz nodded. "Just a little… Worried is all," Liz replied.

"Oh, okay!"

Liz chuckled to herself and looked up at the sun. It looked a little silly, trying to fight off sleep. Everyone knew the sun would eventually head down to make way for the moon, however, but nonetheless Liz thought it looked a little pitiful.

"Maka's talking to Lord Death over there, big sis!" Patty whispered, pointing over to where Maka Albarn stood speaking with Lord Death, her comrades beside her. "You zoned out a little!"

"I did?" Liz asked. "What'd I miss?"

"Not much, but let's go see what we're missing now!"

Liz found herself being dragged over to listen to what Lord Death was saying. The sisters took up a position by Tsubaki, and were both looking over heads and shoulders to see the mirror.

Lord Death stood in the Death Room, Nygus, Spirit, and Stein at his side. His voice was at its usual, goofy, light-hearted tone, but yet Liz felt like it had a touch, a sprinkle of worry, almost undetectable. Perhaps it was just her imagination.

"Now, kids," Lord Death explained, "as said, acquiring these ingredients can be very, very dangerous. And if you all go to get one, then it could take a long amount of time, and it would be too late by the time you completed everything."

"So," Maka asked, "we should all just split up to find individual ingredients?"

"Correct."

Suddenly, Crona flinched, and Ragnarok came shooting out of her back.

"Now hold on just a second!" Ragnarok screeched. "Why should we be helping at all?"

"Ragnarok," Crona murmured, "Kid is our friend."

"Friend or not, there's no way I'm leaving to risk my skin for that brat! You can't make me!"

"We're going," Crona hissed under her breath.

"Ragnarok," Lord Death interrupted, "Crona can't do this without a weapon. Kid might die if we don't acquire the ingredients in time."

"Well, sucks for Crona and Kid, doesn't it?"

"Hey!" Liz growled. "Stop talking about Kid like that!"

"Who's going to make me?"

"Shut your trap, Ragnarok!" Maka screeched.

"There is no way I'm going along to risk my skin for some pale, lanky, skinny little brat-"

"_**SILENCE**_!"

Lord Death's voice made Ragnarok and almost everyone else shrink back in fear. And boy, Lord Death did not look pleased. The eyes on his mask were creased into a furious glare, and he was breathing slowly but deeply from anger.

"That's my son you're talking about, you know," Death hissed, "and if you dare say one more thing, I can guarantee you a slow, painful end! Do you hear me?"

Ragnarok's nod was small, but unmistakable. He eventually vanished back into Crona's back.

"Good. Now, Maka," Lord Death went on, returning to his normal, happy attitude, "The Moondrop flower isn't the easiest to acquire. I don't know anyone who has gone up there, but legend has it that a ferocious beast guards the flower from thieves. If it sees you as a worthy person, it will let you have the flower. You have to choose wisely for the Moondrop."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now about the Holy Water, it's located at a sacred fountain whose location is noted on the paper. It should be pretty easy to get, but I've heard that there's some… Unspeakable obstacle there. I'd suggest someone strong."

"Never fear!" Black Star exclaimed. "Tsubaki and I will get the Holy Water no problem!"

"Uh, are you sure, Black Star?" Maka asked.

"Of course I'm sure! I'm the strongest one here! Ha, ha, ha!"

Lord Death cocked his head to the side. "Whatever you say, Black Star… Anyway, now the Kishin egg and the Kishin blood are a little… difficult to procure."

"How?" Maka asked. "We'll just defeat someone on the Death list and take their blood. Easy!"

"No, that can't exactly happen," Nygus chimed in. "You see, once you deliver the killing blow to a Kishin egg, there's no blood whatsoever. Its body disappears and leaves only its soul. And most Kishin eggs don't even have blood in their bodies. So, we've decided to kill two birds with one stone here."

"How would you do that?" Liz asked.

"Well, you see, the Kishin who injected the disease into Kid is still on the loose," Stein replied, puffing on a cigarette in his mouth. "Luckily, we think we've figured out who he is."

Liz grit her teeth. Patty held her breath.

"He used to be a meister. His name was Ratchet. He was loyal to the DWMA, but when his wife died he went a little bonkers and wanted some form of revenge against Lord Death."

"So," Death continued, "he killed some of the humans here and made off with their souls. He didn't take his partner with him, however. This whole thing occurred just before you kids were all born. Ratchet being a meister means he has an infinite amount of blood."

"So," Maka said once Lord Death finished, "what's your point?"

"Two of you go and get the Kishin egg," Lord Death replied, "while another pair fights Ratchet and takes his blood as they wound him, and finally takes him out. Do you all think you're up for the job?"

Black Star gave a thumbs-up. "Tsubaki and I are ready for anything!"

Tsubaki smiled. "Right!"

Maka and Soul grinned at each other. "Soul and I are prepared!"

Crona smiled and nodded. "I can handle it…"

"Patty and I will save Kid no matter what it takes!" Liz exclaimed, forming her hands into fists.

"Save Kid, save Kid!" Patty chanted. "YAAAY!"

"Good!" Lord Death tweeted. "Now, I have someone on the Death List that needs to be taken out. You can get the Kishin egg from that!"

"Who is it?" Maka asked.

"Around Death City, he's known as 'the Pale One.' He's a faceless, ferocious creature that dwells within many lairs. He is known for his swift speed and agility, hence why he migrates so often. However there have been reports of sightings in a large, large forest area that is northeast of Death City. It's approximately four thousand miles wide, so don't get lost! The Pale One lures children into his lair, and then brutally murders them and devours their body and soul. No bodies are ever found, not even a trace of blood. Those who aren't captured by him go totally insane, eventually killing themselves in most cases. He's a little on the dangerous side, but I think you kids can handle it!"

Maka nodded. "We'll handle it, sir!"

"Good! I'm counting on you all! Break a leg, but not really!"

"_**MAKA**_," Spirit yelled before grabbing the mirror. "_**DADDY LOVES YOU SO MUCH AND HE WANTS YOU TO BE SAFE**_-"

Maka disconnected.

"Alright then!" Maka exclaimed, shoving the mirror into her pocket. "Let's assign missions!"

"I call dibs on the Holy Water!" Black Star screeched.

Maka sighed. "Okay, fine, you and Tsubaki can go get the Holy Water. Crona, you'll come with Soul and me and we'll get the Kishin egg. Liz, Patty, you guys will go get the Moondrop."

"Hold it!" Liz interrupted. "Patty and I didn't come to get a stupid flower."

Maka narrowed her eyes. "Then what on earth do you want?"

"We want to save Kid, as well as avenge him. Patty and I want to go after Ratchet."

There was a tense silence among the group.

"Guys," Tsubaki said, "if he could do that to Kid, then…"

"Besides," Black Star said cheekily, "you two don't have a meister with you."

Patty glared at him. "We can wield each other!"

"Liz, Patty," Maka said, pity plastered on her voice, "we just don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Tough," Liz retorted. "We're getting that guy and we're avenging Kid. We call dibs."

"And also," Patty said, "Crona would have to go get a separate mission from you guys. If he didn't, we wouldn't get everything in time, right?"

Maka grit her teeth. "Alright," she mumbled, "Liz and Patty go and fight Ratchet. Soul and I go and get the Kishin egg. Black Star and Tsubaki get the Holy Water, and Crona gets the Moondrop. Are we good?"

Crona seemed to shrink. "I'm alright with it," she said.

"Good!" Maka said, the corners of her mouth turned up in a grin. "We'll head out immediately!"

**0o0o0**

Once Maka's face had rippled out of sight and Spirit had been calmed down, Lord Death let out a sigh. "Well, Nygus," he said, turning to the school nurse, "I believe you wanted to ask me something?"

Nygus narrowed her eyes. "You wanted me to come here, Lord Death," she replied.

"Precisely! But that's because I know you have something to ask me!"

"How do you-"

"It's a gift!" Lord Death laughed for a moment.

Spirit grinned. "He's done it ever since I became a death scythe, don't worry, Nygus."

Death laughed once more before going on. "But anyway, what's your question, Nygus?"

Nygus paused for a moment, and then said, "Stein told us that Kid would have a nightmare every day of one of his worst fears. Am I correct?"

"Righty-O!" Death responded.

"Do you, by any chance, know of Kid's seven worst fears?"

"I do indeed!" Lord Death replied cheerily.

"... Do you think you could tell them to me?"

Death was stone silent for her last question. He waited a moment, and then turned towards his mirror and stared into the reflection.

"Sir?" Nygus went on.

"I… I can't really tell you," Lord Death muttered. His voice was filled with the remnants of lost memories that he must have been tossing around his brain as he thought.

"Sir, this is your son we're talking about. I might be able to help him if I know his fears," Nygus implored, "please, if you can just tell me his second one, I'll leave you alone. His first one is asymmetry, Stein told us that. Lord Death, for your son, please!"

Heartbeats of dead silence slithered by like cobras. Death still stared at the mirror. Spirit was tense. Nygus's eyes were filled with a pleading that had never been there before.

When Lord Death spoke, for the first time in years he seemed to be at war with his emotions. "He once made me promise not to tell anyone. "

"This is a life and death situation, sir, please, at least tell me one."

Heartbeats. Seconds of pure silence and agony dragged by. It seemed like hours had gone by. Then Lord Death turned to Spirit and dismissed him from the Death Room. Spirit nodded, and made his way through the guillotine archways and out of the room, but not without one look back at his meister. When the death scythe was gone, Lord Death looked at Nygus.

Death inhaled and spilled. "His second worst fear is..."

**0o0o0**

Midnight. That was what time of day it was. Kid knew as he pulled himself away from the cold hand that grasped his abdomen and opened his eyes and gazed upon the dark purple sky and the malicious moon hanging up in the sky.

Midnight.

Kid slowly angled his eyes in every direction, trying to get a better hold of his surroundings. His head was very foggy and it was hard to think straight. How did he get here? Was he not in the DWMA infirmary just now? Was this another dream? Where was he, anyway?

Kid sat himself up; as he did so, a sharp pain shot up through his forehead. His hand flew to the area, and when he pulled it away, there was blood smeared on his hands.

_What one earth happened? _The boy thought. Kid gradually made his way to his feet, ignoring the shots of pain in areas of his body and the throbbing pain in his head.

Kid's mind began to slowly clear up, and with this he realized he was in one of the alleyways that made up Death City. He vaguely remembered an alley that resembled this from when he was giving chase to the Thief Lupin. Trash bins scattered about, garbage scattered upon the ground.

That was when Kid noticed the small, blue orb levitating farther down the alley.

_Kid... Come…_

Wait, what? Was this thing _talking _to him? Kid eyed it for a few moments, and noticed that it seemed to have arms, and it seemed to be beckoning him over.

_Come… Come…_

He could hear it. Not in the way you heard someone's voice, but the words and the sound were there, in his mind. The sound was almost like a child whispering, at least to Kid. It had that sort of echo about it. It was eerie, very, very eerie.

_Come… Kid…_

Kid was hesitant. How many times a day do you see a glowing orb with arms calling to you?

_Come…_

Well, it was worth a shot. What did he have to lose? Kid began to move to the small orb, using the walls as his guide. Every step sent a pounding into his head, but he continued to move forward.

However, when he reached the strange thing, it began to move farther and farther down the passage.

_Follow… Kid…_

Something inside of Kid, the wiser side of him, told him to stay away. But another part urged him forward, and he chose to obey that side of himself.

He moved forward, following the orb. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours. Then, finally, Kid began to hear voices at the end of the alley. They were muffled, but he could make out a few words in between.

"…_id… Stop… It wasn't… fault…_"

Hold on, that sounded like… Kid began to move faster. Another voice joined the chorus.

"_Liz... broke… reaper law… must pay the price."_

Was that _Kid's_ voice?

As Kid rounded a corner, the orb disappeared and quite the sight beheld him.

He was standing there, wearing the black cloak that marked him as a Grim Reaper, a silver pistol gleaming in the moonlight as he pointed it at the person at the end of the alley. Kid seemed… Older, in a way. His hair was longer, two of the lines of Sanzu connected. This made the OCD part of Kid giddy for a few brief moments until he noticed the girl at the end of the passage.

The figure had messy, brown hair, teary blue eyes with mascara mixed with her tears. Her teeth were shiny and white, blood dripped from her mouth, and she had cuts and bruises adorning her arms and face.

Kid didn't need to see her attire. He recognized her as Liz Thompson and the pistol in his older self's hands as Patty.

Liz let out a sob. "Kid, please!" She wailed. "Don't do this! I told you, I'm sorry! I had no choice!"

"You have broken one of the most sacred laws of Death City!" Kid heard his alternate self retort. "I have no choice but to punish you!"

Liz wailed again. "P-Patty! Please, help!"

Patty was only silent.

"Kid! Please, don't kill me!" Liz screeched.

Kill her?

Kid made an attempt to cry out, but nothing came from his mouth. He could only hear himself; the others in front of him probably didn't even know he was there.

"Liz," Kid's alternate self went on, "the last thing I ever wanted to do is this. But I have no choice!"

"NO!" Liz screeched, sinking to her knees. "Kid, PLEASE!"

"… I'm sorry."

_BANG!_

There was the loudest gunshot Kid had ever heard, and blood flew out of Liz's chest. She slumped to the ground and was still as a pool of her own blood formed around her.

If Kid himself could talk, he would have called out Liz's name. His stomach back flipped in his abdomen, and Kid stumbled backward and tightly shut his eyes. Liz was dead. She couldn't be dead! What had she done that made her deserve such an end? She wasn't dead! She couldn't be!

_Liz had to die. She broke the law and had to be punished._

Kid beat on the sides of his head. There was that voice again!

_You only made the necessary sacrifice. And yet you're afraid?_

Kid pulled on his hair.

_You can't even sacrifice for the good of your world? How pathetic!_

Kid beat his head once more, urging himself out of this place. It had to be a dream!

Kid would soon find himself in his waking world, where he would grab the miniature trash bin beside his bed and hurl.

**0o0o0**

12:30 A.M.

That was what Nygus read from the clock that hung from the wall of the hallway leading to the infirmary. It was the time. Simple as that. But to the school nurse, it felt like she was about to visit the people who had fought in terrible wars. Every step she made as she made her way to the infirmary door felt like there were anvils stuck to her legs.

Kid would have about finished the nightmare by now, according to Lord Death. Nygus had made her way back to check on Kid and collect her items to go home. Should she go home? Or should she stay by Kid's side and console him?

The second fear.

As Nygus tore her gaze away from the clock, she muttered the fear under her breath.

"The second fear is sacrifice."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry it took a while to update, guys! I have been really busy with school and the like XC and I'm incredibly disappointed with this chapter, just so you guys are aware… T-T**

**But if it takes a while for the next chapter, then you have my deepest apologies! I have about a month until summer, I promise I'll update much more by then if I don't finish this by that point of time. Thank you all so much for reading, I love you all!**

**Disclaimer: The food song is from Ice Age.**

* * *

_Food, glorious food!_

_We're anxious to try it._

_Three banquets a day -_

_Our favorite diet!_

Crona's eye twitched. She gripped the sleeve that caressed her arm tighter, gritting her teeth as well. Her footsteps crunched notably harder in the snow as she trudged onward.

_Just picture a sirloin steak._

_Fried, roasted, or stewed._

_Oh, food,_

Crona covered her ears.

_Wonderful food,_

Crona stopped dead in her tracks.

_Marvelous food,_

Her eyebrows pointed downwards in annoyance.

_Glorious food!_

"Ragnarok! What are you doing?!" Crona snapped, craning her neck to gaze up at her singing partner.

Ragnarok rested his head on Crona's. "I'm singin' a song!" He squeaked. "It's your fault for not feeding me for three hours now, Crona! Now I'm hungry and bored to tears!"

"You had a sandwich and four packs of saltines just before we left! How can you still be hungry?" Crona replied.

"Don't question me! Do we have any more food?"

"We'll run out if we eat anything now!"

Ragnarok scowled. "Dammit, Crona!" The demon sword proceeded to beating on his partner's head with his tiny fists.

"Hey! Stop that! You're always picking on me and it isn't funny!"

"I'll show you what isn't funny, c'mere!"

They had separated from Maka and the others yesterday at dusk, and it was dawn now that Crona and Ragnarok were summiting Galaxy Mountain, which was the place where the Moondrop flower was supposedly located. The group had all agreed to meet back with each other in Death City, where they would mix the ingredients up and inject it into Kid's poisoned bloodstream. If they succeeded, Kid would be back on his feet having symmetry fits in no time.

That is, if they made it in time.

Crona was absolutely determined to march forth and get the flower that would eventually be Kid's saving grace. She had trudged so far towards the mountain's summit that they were already facing ankle-deep snows. Ragnarok, however, was being a little difficult. For one thing, he had been complaining about how awful it was that everyone was forcing him to risk his skin trying to find a stupid flower and how he was _so _underappreciated.

Then, he began to complain of hunger and when Crona had not allowed him to eat their food supply, the Demon Sword had begun to sing that awful song.

If Crona had been someone else, Black Star for instance, Ragnarok would have received a roundhouse to the jaw. But she was instead but gentle Crona. At one point she could most certainly slaughter anyone. But now the very most she could do was yell at whoever was bothering her.

This of course had no affect against Ragnarok.

Ragnarok eventually got tired of beating Crona's head with his fists and rested his tiny head on Crona's head. By now, Crona had finished hiking up steep hills and was gripping onto rocks as she climbed a short wall.

"Crona," he whined, "how much farther should we go on?"

"Until we get the flower…" Crona replied, a determination she's never felt before scattered across her voice.

"Eh… What do you mean by that exactly?

"I mean we rest only when that flower is ours."

Ragnarok was aghast. "Crona! It'll take all day to get that thing, not to mention we'll probably be fighting a monster! Not that we'll lose, but if that flat-chested girl-"

"-Maka."

"Right. If Melisa taught me anything it's that you need to be prepared for a battle! So we should rest when we can-"

"No!" Crona stood up the minute she scaled the wall, angling her eyes to the summit of Heavenly Mountain, where the sun was steadily peaking over the crest of the mountain. "This is the second day, Ragnarok! We've already wasted too much time as it is! We're going to get the flower, get back to Maka and the others and save Kid!"

"But-"

"No buts!" Crona interrupted, beginning to trudge once more up the mountain.

Ragnarok sighed. "Dammit, Crona…"

**0o0o0**

By the time Crona and Ragnarok had reached the second, larger wall, their breathing was fast and their tongues were wiping across their dry lips, trying to moisten them. Their lungs felt like they were going to pop from the exertion, and the cold had chilled the pair to the bone.

Yet somehow, Crona urged herself onwards.

"Cr… Crona," Ragnarok gasped, "ca… Can we p-please… stop now…?"

"No!" Crona replied, filling her lungs full of air as she talked so she could be heard clearly. "Kid had always been friendly to me!" She took a breath. "I'm not stopping until we're off the mountain with the flower!" Ignoring her partner's exasperated sigh of displeasure, Crona reach up, took hold of one of the rocks jutting out from the wall they needed to scale, placed her foot in a foothold, and hoisted her frail body upwards.

This wall, at least as far as the pair could see, was the last one they needed to climb before reaching the summit. Galaxy Mountain itself was not very high up; only about the height of a larger-than-normal skyscraper. But it was dangerous, and not just because of the monster supposedly lurking above.

The two were sleep-deprived, cold, and exhausted. But Crona was making gradual progress up the wall, Ragnarok giving her words of praise and urging her forward.

"C'mon, Crona!" The demon sword went on. "Climb this wall! Then we'll kick that monster's sorry butt! Faster! Do you know how much Kit's-"

"-Kid."

"-Kid's life is in danger right now?! C'mon, _move it, move it_!"

Okay, perhaps those aren't exactly word of encouragement, but they sure were helping Crona move herself forward. And she was making steady progress, too. She was almost near the top, and Ragnarok had given her a nice pat on the back.

That is, until she grabbed the handful of rotten rock.

The bad stone crumpled as soon as she put weight on it. Crona let out a yelp of fright as her body plummeted for a moment, and then stopped. Thank goodness her left hand still grasped a rock jutting out from the wall.

"Crona!" Ragnarok screeched. "Dammit, you grabbed some rotten stone, didn't you?!"

"What do I do, Ragnarok?!" Crona asked in a panicked tone of voice.

"Uh," Ragnarok desperately looked around. Crona obviously couldn't hang on for very long, and there were no available handholds to cling onto and hoist to the top of the wall. Crona's feet had lost their footholds and were just dangling there. Looking down, Ragnarok saw that they were quite high up. The crumpled rock had fallen to the snow below, shattering as it collided with ice.

Now, Ragnarok was no Einstein, not even close. But even he could tell that if Crona fell and plummeted to the icy ground below, they'd be rendered immobile for this quest and possibly for the rest of their lives. That is, if their lives didn't end when they hit the ground.

In other words there was danger afoot. Black blood or not, they were in serious trouble.

"Maybe you can use me as an ice axe?!" He implored.

"I can't! If I did then what if I dropped you, or what if I messed up and we both fell?"

Crona couldn't drop him, Ragnarok knew that, but she did have a point with the last one.

There was also no possible way Ragnarok could grab onto a rock and hoist his meister up to the next handholds. His arms were too small and he couldn't really stretch very far out of Crona's back.

So, Ragnarok got an idea.

"Listen, Crona!" The Demon Sword ordered. "I'm going to try and sprout wings like when we were on that one ghost ship, and then I'll try and fly us up to the top!"

Crona protested. "You're smaller than when you were back then! What if we don't make it?"

"Then at least we did our best and at least you're going down with me! Now shut up and do what I say!"

"But-"

"**ZIP IT!**"

Before Crona could protest any more, Ragnarok grabbed his meister's shoulders, grit his teeth, and poured all of his power into making two wings pop out of his back.

_Wings, wings, wings…_

"I can't hang on much longer!" Crona grasped the rock she was clinging to with her free hand, but even that did little to increase their time.

_Wings, dammit, wings, wings…_

Crona's fingers began to slip and tears began to pile in her eyes. "R-Ragnarok…"

_Wings, wings, WINGS!_

Crona's fingers came off of the rock, leaving a scrape on her hand and sending her plummeting towards the earth. A scream escaped both of the partners' lips as air whipped across their skin and through Crona's hair.

_WINGS!_

Suddenly, the air whipping around the two stopped. Crona kept her eyes tightly closed, wondering if she was dead or not. Or unconscious. No, she was sure she had to be dead and that the impact had killed her instantly.

That is, until a fist slammed into her nose.

"Hey, doofus! I can't hold you for very long! Hurry up and help me here!"

Looking up, Crona couldn't believe her eyes. Ragnarok was there, as per usual. But out of his back were two short, stubby wings about the size of a raven. He was flapping them frantically, and the poor Demon Sword looked like he wanted to pass out.

"Hurry it up! Grab onto something! Climb!"

Crona obeyed. She climbed the wall, and when the two reached the area where Crona had fallen, Ragnarok flapped his tiny wings mercilessly until they were past the obstacle.

When the two reached the top of the wall, Crona cried, letting out her worry and fear and relief. Ragnarok scoffed. But inside he wanted to cry too. He didn't, though. He just said, "Let's never do that again," and let his wings vanish into his back.

**0o0o0**

About an hour after the wall-scaling incident, it began to snow.

It didn't bother the weapon-meister pair though. They simply shrugged it off and continued forward. Ragnarok even made a couple of snowballs 'for protection in case we see that monster thing.'

Then it began to snow harder. Then it turned into a blizzard.

The winds picked up to what felt like one thousand miles per hour. Crona could barely keep herself moving forward, and Ragnarok had vanished back down into her body minutes before (taking the snowballs with him).

As much as Crona wanted to continue forward, she knew it was useless. The cold had frozen the ends of her bangs and she was chilled to the bone, in addition to that she could barely see her own hands in front of her face. In this weather she'd go snow-blind if she kept moving.

They had to find some sort of shelter and wait the storm out.

Thankfully, the mountain had pity on them.

Crona finally stumbled over to an ice wall and leaned against it, trying to take a quick rest before she continued on. Looking up, Crona noticed that she couldn't even see the sun through the buckets of snow and wind raining down. Pulling her knees to her chest, Crona sighed.

Why on earth was she so determined to march forward? She and Kid were certainly not the best of friends. Good friends, yes, but they weren't exactly those type of friends to give each other hugs and buy drinks and then high-five and run into the sunset.

But Crona still moved on for reasons she was unsure of. However, a sudden memory broke free from the nooks and crannies of her mind.

**0o0o0**

"… _and then you multiply 'x' with 'y'. Does that make sense, Crona?"_

_Crona nodded at Kid, and he pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose and replied with, "Good. In that case I think that's all you need to know for now."_

_Crona, who was a little on the inept-at-school side, had asked Kid if he had time to explain what on earth the teacher had explained to them in math class. Kid had been off to Deathbucks with Liz and Patty, but ignoring Crona's protests he sent the Thompson sisters on their way, took out a pair of glasses, and made his way to the library with Crona, where he had spent the last hour giving a detailed explanation about the lesson of today, the day before, and the day before that._

_Crona certainly understood everything now._

"_Thank you, Kid," she said. "You didn't have to…"_

"_Don't be silly, Crona," Kid replied, removing the glasses from his person and shoving them into his pocket. "You didn't understand, and you needed help. Maka's already gone home, and besides, I'm happy to help my friends." He flashed her a cunning smile._

_Crona blinked, smiled, and then nodded. "Yeah…!"_

**0o0o0**

Crona let out a sigh and leaned back on the ice wall, putting all of her weight on it. Kid was her friend, and she had to help him no matter what. Besides, he'd probably do the same thing for her if she caught this Death's Demure or whatever-

_CRACK!_

Crona had neglected to study the wall she was leaning on to see if it was thick enough to be leaned upon. And it most certainly was not.

Crona yelped and fell backwards, plummeting a few feet before hitting the ground with a loud _THUMP!_

Ouch. That really hurt. Sitting up rather quickly, Crona shot a terrified expression to the place where she was perched. A large, jagged hole was where she once was sitting, innocently recalling a distant memory.

"Crona!" Ragnarok shot out of her back. "You're lucky I just decided to harden the black blood at that moment! Be more careful next time, dummy!"

"Right," Crona breathed. "I'm sorry." Crona turned to the area behind her. "Where… Where are we?"

The area they had fallen into was dark, and no snow fell. The only wind that reached them was a soft breeze omitting from the harsh winds outside. Farther down behind them was darkness, and there was the soothing sound of water droplets falling to the ground.

"I think we're in some kind of ice cave. Lucky thing you fell in here, eh? We may have frozen to death."

Crona nodded and stood up.

"Go farther down!" Ragnarok ordered. "Maybe we'll find something interesting down there!"

"No way," Crona replied. "What if there's something dangerous down there… How are we going to deal with it?"

"We'll kill it! Just go! If there's nothing down there, we can always come back! Nothing to lose, right?"

"We're wasting time."

"We won't be going anywhere soon judging by that blizzard. C'mon, Crona!"

Crona had to admit, her partner had a good point. She really didn't want to; an eerie feeling gnawed at her stomach that there wouldn't be anything good down there. But something else told her to go forward. What could possibly happen? Lord Death said the flower was at the summit, right? That meant that the monster would be there, as well.

Crona inhaled and moved forward.

**0o0o0**

"Is this for real?!"

The two had been marching down the tunnel for what felt like hours but was only thirty minutes. Crona was fatigued, thirsty, and more than anything she just wanted to lie down and sleep for an hour. But she didn't.

Thank goodness she didn't.

They had reached a large area where the path spiraled downwards; Crona didn't want to look where. She had always been told not to look down, and she decided to heed this advice. Crona had been walking forward until Ragnarok looked over the edge of the path and yelled, "Crona! Look!"

Crona had peeked over the edge and her heart had stopped.

Lord Death was wrong.

There, resting in a small patch of the greenest grass Crona had ever seen, was a small, glowing white flower. It had five petals, all points at the ends with small curls, tipped with red. Crona tore the notes Maka had given her out of her pocket and stared.

No doubt about it. That flower was the legendary Moondrop, the plant born of a drop of the moon's blood.

Adrenaline pumping through her arteries, Crona made a mad dash down the spiraling path and finally over to the flower that would assist in saving Kid's life.

Kneeling beside it, she stared for a moment. "It's so pretty…"

Ragnarok drooled. "It kind of smells like marshmallows…"

Crona cautiously looked around. "Do you think it's safe to take?"

"Of course it is, scaredy-Crona!" Ragnarok scoffed. "That Reaper dude said that it would be at the summit; it wasn't! He was probably wrong about the monster, too! Just get your scissors or use your hands and pick that thing!"

Crona grit her teeth. "Okay…"

She reached out to the flower, feeling its smooth petals, letting one hand travel to the stem, and began to pull…

Before something collided with her cheek and sent her flying backwards.

Crona yelped as she hit the ground and slid across the floor with a sharp pain stinging her side as she fell and another harsh stinging on her cheek.

"Crona!" Ragnarok screeched. Crona felt something warm trickle down her face, but then felt it turn cold and harden. She knew instantly that this was her blood and that Ragnarok had hardened it.

Looking up, Crona was shocked to see that Lord Death most certainly was not wrong. In fact he was very right. There, before Crona stood a dragon, scales glimmering white, eyes bright and blue and full of loathing as it glared at Crona like she was a meal.

She had gray horns that started at the top of your head and curled down towards her lower jaw, like the horns of a ram. Her paws were made powerful by thick, razor-sharp black claws that gleamed in the light of the flower. She had large wings that seemed very muscular, but one of her more standout traits was the symbol on her shoulder.

The symbol itself was a cartooned replica of the moon, dark gray in color with white circles for the eyes and a white little smile. That confirmed it for Crona. This dragon was the guardian of the Moondrop, and boy, it did not look pleased that a skinny, lanky girl had just tried to steal a precious treasure.

Crona stumbled to her feet.

"I hardened the black blood!" Ragnarok said. "Don't I get a 'thank you'?"

"Thanks, Ragnarok…" Crona replied.

"Thank you _very much_!"

The dragon lashed its tail, which was about the size of Ragnarok's weapon form, maybe larger.

"What is your name?"

Crona flinched. That couldn't be the dragon speaking, could it? "W-Who said that?"

"I did!" The dragon stepped forward and bared its teeth. "Tell me your name!"

Okay, so it _was_ the dragon talking. And judging by the voice it was certainly a female. The dragoness's voice was icy and cold, ready to do damage with cutting remarks. It was almost terrifying. But it sounded oddly youthful, even though this thing was supposedly guarding the Moondrop for hundreds, possibly thousands of years.

Crona managed to force out, "D-Demon swordsman Crona…"

The dragon scoffed. "You're trying to take the Moondrop?"

Crona nodded.

"Then I'll have to kill you." The dragon took a battle stance, her tail gently sweeping the ground as she glared at her opponent.

Crona held a hand out. "Ragnarok, switch to weapon form."

Before long, Crona was holding the Demon sword in her hands, and had taken a battle stance of her own. There was a period of silence before Crona said, "Scream Resonance."

Ragnarok's lips popped out of the sword, and soon a blood-curdling screech omitted from said lips, echoing throughout the caverns and pounding in the opponents' ears.

Likewise, the dragon drew a sharp pink tongue over her lips, then let out a roar that would send the birds and all animals (if there were any around) around running for cover, a roar that radiated bloodlust.

It was time for battle.

The dragoness shot forward, her knife-like claws extended at her opponent and her eyes heavily loaded with determination. Crona swiftly dodged and threw a swing of her sword at the enemy. "Who are you?!" Crona asked.

"Me?" The beast grinned, swinging a blow at Crona and catching her in the stomach, making three sharp cuts across the meister's abdomen. "I have no name, nothing! My only purpose is to defend this flower!"

Crona stumbled backward when she received the blow, but Ragnarok quickly hardened the blood that flowed from the cuts. The beast before Crona seemed surprised, but determined to win all the same.

Crona, also determined, drew Ragnarok's blade over her wrist, wincing as it cut through her skin and hit blood vessels. Sharply throwing her cut wrist into the air, she felt blood stream out of it, and before her it took the shape of a sharp, black lance pointed at her enemy.

"Bloody Lance."

The lance shot forth, aiming straight forth at the dragoness. She seemed quite surprised to say the least, however, she quickly recovered and made a swift barrel roll to her right, letting the lance whizz by her and crash into the wall just beside the Moondrop.

"Tell me," the beast inquired, "how was the Moondrop born?"

Crona raised Ragnarok into her traditional battle stance. "From a drop of blood from the moon."

"Correct!" The dragon praised. "However, I was born in a similar yet different way. When the blood fell to earth-" She swooped at Crona, and the meister narrowly missed her. "-the moon shed tears, for a creation as powerful as the Moondrop would be misused by humans. I was born from those tears." The dragoness summoned up a ball of something that looked like starlight in her mouth, and shot it in a beam at Crona. Crona dodged and managed to end the beam of starlight by slashing it in half with Ragnarok. "And since then, here I have resided. With the last Moondrop flower."

Crona looked pleadingly at her opponent. "Please," she whimpered, "please, let us have it. My friend is dying of disease, and we can only save him if we have that flower."

"Disease?" The dragon looked puzzled and skeptical.

"Yes! It's called the… The… Oh, Ragnarok, what was it again?"

"_It was the Death's Demure, dummy!_" Ragnarok retorted.

The flower's guardian snarled. "That disease has been extinct for nearly eight-hundred years!" She hissed. "You expect me to believe that?"

"It's come back for my friend," Crona implored, "so please, _please_ let me do this."

There was a moment of silence, and Crona's opponent replied, "I am here only to protect the flower, only allowing those who are pure of heart and soul, only allowing those whose intentions are clear and good to take it." Bright eyes flashed at Crona, and at lightning speed, the dragon was flying straight towards Crona, one paw extended.

Crona, in a panic, blocked the razor-sharp claws with Ragnarok. Claws scraped blade, and for a moment the dragoness seemed surprised and… Was that irritation flying through her wispy eyes?

She sent another blow, but Crona blocked once more. Twice. Three times.

Each blow and block sent a loud, chilling noise into the air, almost like chalk squeaking on a chalkboard. Ragnarok grunted with each blow, but somehow was hanging on. Crona knew she and Ragnarok couldn't go on blocking forever. She prayed for a miracle, prayed for anything.

"Oh, for the love of-!"

The dragoness let out a snarl of irritation and sent one blow at Crona's face. Crona, obviously, blocked with her sword once more. Then, the miracle occurred. But not in any way Crona imagined.

With a searing pain that shot electricity through her bloodstream, claws met the hand Crona was using to carry Ragnarok. The guardian had used her free paw to lash out at Crona's hand, and immediately Crona could tell that the guardian wanted her to drop the sword.

But Crona was unable to do so. Instead, she let her wounded arm drop downwards, hoping that, in a moment, Ragnarok would harden the blood and they could continue. Ragnarok, however, was too late.

The dragoness drove a paw into Crona's bony shoulder, knocking the helpless meister down onto the ground. Crona struggled in desperation.

"B-Bloody nee-"

"Silence!" The beast replied, baring her fangs and breathing her hot breath onto Crona's pale face. Crona whimpered and tightly shut her eyes.

Then, the unexpected happened.

The beat that had Crona in a death grip leaned forward and pressed the very tip of her muzzle onto Crona's forehead. Crona blinked for a moment, then her eyes were forced closed as darkness swirled around her. She could vaguely feel the weight of the dragon on her body leave, and faintly hear the haunting sound of Ragnarok calling her name.

* * *

**A/N: CLIFFHANGERS, MWAHAAHA- *shot***

**I probably should have mashed the entire adventure into one chapter, but I got a severe case of writer's block once I wrote this and I decided to leave a cliffhanger. Don't worry, we'll see what happens to Crona soon ;)**

**And, as said before, I'M SORRY THIS CHAPTER IS AWFUL I ABHOR IT YOU GUYS DESERVE BETTER T-T**


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